Your web design is the face of your business online. Through designing, you are going to leave an impression on your customers. While creating any website, the basic aspects of web design are:

1. Content

The content is the main substance of the website and should be relevant to the site. It should target the customers and visitors, and give them the information and resources they need.

2. Usability

The site should be user-friendly with the interface and navigation system simple and reliable. This is so that customers can familiarise themselves to the site and navigate through it quickly. They will then likely be customers that return to the site.

3. Appearance

The graphics and text should include a single style that flows throughout for consistency. Pages other than the main page should strive to follow the same theme and background colour. The same main navigation interface should be displayed on all pages as well.

4. Visibility of The Site

The site should be easy to find via most search engines. Optimization is the process of making something functional and effective. Web design optimization is a continuous process of improving the design to achieve online business goals. An optimized web page loads quickly on the client’s system, so your website visitor can quickly get the information they had come for.

The reasons for optimization are varied. These include increasing download speed, increasing its search engine ranking and applying modern web standards.

Now the question arises – whether optimization of web design is possible or not. Here, we are going to discuss the ways for optimization.

1. Optimize Graphics for Web Use

Even today, many people use dial up connection for web use. With slow browsing speed, they don’t want to wait a long time for pages to load. And as a business owner, you can’t afford to lose a single customer. If you have a graphic intensive site, all you need to do is optimize your graphics for web use. Here optimizing means compressing the file size of graphics for fast download. If your graphics are too large, or you have too many, reduce the number of graphics or the file size through free online tools such as Image Optimizer (http://www.imageoptimizer.net/Pages/Home.aspx).

2. Emphasize on Content

Make sure that the content of the website is laid out effectively. If you only concentrate on looks and ignore the content, you can’t leave an impact on your customers. You need to provide a concise, convincing message and information about your website, if you want your visitors to buy your product or service. Make sure that your content is simple and easy to understand.

3. Install a Navigation System That Compliments Search Engines

Navigation systems are built to help visitors find their way around your website. Therefore, they should be designed carefully to make them search engine friendly. Search engines need a chain of hypertext links starting at your home page that will take them page by page in your entire site. The problem is that if JavaScript and flash systems replace plain hyperlinks, the search engine may not be able to find the underlying pages. You can optimize the flash and images for better use and quick downloading.

4. Emphasize on Colour, Shapes and Font Size

Things like colour, shape and sizes of font can make a substantial impact on overall message. Using blue, green, silver, grey as colour can create a calming effect. Using rounded corners instead of hard edges within your design can invoke a softer and personalised feeling in users.

5. Keep It Simple
Look at some successful websites like Google. It is very simple. Do not use bloated features. Keep your goals as well as visitors needs in mind when adding a feature.

Now, we have explored 5 ways to optimize web design. Take them into consideration and optimize your site design today!